A
Three Feet From Gold
Darby’s uncle was caught by the “gold fever” in the gold – rush days, and went west to dig and grow rich. After months of labor, he was rewarded by the discovery of the shining ore(矿石).He needed machinery to bring the ore to the surface. So, with the “strike”, he returned home. And with the help of Darby, he borrowed a lot of money. After buying the machinery and having it shipped, Uncle and Darby went back to work the mine.
The first car of ore was mined. And the returns proved they had one of the richest mines in Colorado! Down went the drills! Up went the hopes of Uncle and Darby!
Then something happened! The vein(矿脉) of gold ore disappeared! They drilled on, but all in vain. Finally, they decided to quit and sold the machinery to a junk man for a few hundred dollars. The junk man called in a mining engineer to look at the mine and do a little calculating. The engineer’s calculations showed that the vein would be found just three feet from where the Darbys had stopped drilling! The junk man took millions of dollars in the vein, because he knew enough to seek experts’ advice before giving up.
Most of the money which went into the machinery was borrowed through the efforts of Darby, who was then a very young man. The money came from his relatives because of their faith in him. He paid back every dollar of it, although he was years in doing so.
Long afterwards, Mr. Darby made another discovery that desire can be changed into gold. This discovery came after he went into the business of selling life insurance. Remembering that he lost a huge fortune, for he stopped three feet from gold, Darby profited by the experience in his chosen work, saying to himself, “I stopped three feet from gold, but I never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.”
Darby sold more than million dollars in life insurance annually. He owes his “stick-ability” to the lesson he learned from his “quit-ability” in the gold mining business.
21. Darby’s uncle went back home to _________.
A. receive his reward B. seek financial support
C. look for more helpers D. consult an engineer
22. From the passage, we can know Darby _________.
A. was unable to pay off the debts
B. mined his gold from the failure
C. learned a lesson from selling insurance
D. devoted himself to making new discoveries
23. The author intends to tell us that _______.
A. hopes and difficulties exist side by side
B. correct decisions stem from correct judgment
C. we should catch it when opportunity comes
D. we won’t reach our goal unless we insist
【答案】21. B 22. B 23. D
【解析】
【分析】
本文是一篇记叙文。Darby的叔叔发现了金矿，在Darby和亲戚的帮助下买到了钻探设备，但金矿脉消失，他们只好把设备卖给了一个旧货商。旧货商找到一个采矿工程师去看矿井，发现Darby只差3英尺就钻探到了金矿。后来Darby从事销售人寿保险业务，由于有前车之鉴，他坚持不放弃，终于成功了。作者想告诉我们，除非我们坚持下去，否则我们无法实现我们的目标。
【21题详解】
细节理解题。根据第一段So, with the “strike”, he returned home. And with the help of Darby, he borrowed a lot of money.（所以，随着“罢工”，他回家了。在达比的帮助下，他借了很多钱。）可知，Darby的叔叔回到家寻求财政支持。故答案为B。
【22题详解】
推理判断题。根据倒数第二段最后一句“I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.（我在离黄金三英尺的地方停了下来，但当我让人们买保险他们说“不”时，我不会停下来。）”和最后一段第一句Darby sold more than a million dollars in life insurance annually.（Darby每年卖出100多万美元的人寿保险。）可知，Darby从失败中挖掘出了他人生的金子。故答案为B。
【23题详解】
推理判断题。根据最后一段He owes his “stickability” to the lesson he learned from his “quit-ability” in the gold mining business.（他的“坚持能力”要归功于他在金矿行业的“退出能力”。）可知，作者想告诉我们，除非我们坚持下去，否则我们无法实现我们的目标。故答案为D。
【点睛】推理判断题要求考生在理解原文表面文字信息的基础上，做出一定的判断和推理，从而得出文章的隐含意义和深层意义。推理判断题属于主观性较强的高层次阅读理解题，做这类题目时，同学们应严格依据作者所陈述的细节、事实以及作者的措词、态度和语气等，找出能够表露作者思想倾向和感情色彩的词语，然后利用自己已获得的相关知识进行推理判断，从而得出符合逻辑的结论。以本文第二小题为例，根据倒数第二段最后一句“I stopped three feet from gold, but I will never stop because men say ‘no’ when I ask them to buy insurance.（我在离黄金三英尺的地方停了下来，但当我让人们买保险他们说“不”时，我不会停下来。）”和最后一段第一句Darby sold more than a million dollars in life insurance annually.（Darby每年卖出100多万美元的人寿保险。）可知，Darby从失败中挖掘出了他人生的金子。故答案为B。
